


Telling Ma

by Calzonafan2014



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 05:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1498501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calzonafan2014/pseuds/Calzonafan2014
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a fight with Lena, Stef comes out to family and friends. At the end of a long day there’s still one final person left to tell – her mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Telling Ma

She’d screwed up. Stef realized it the second she saw Lena’s face as she opened the door to her apartment. She didn’t know how or why it had happened, but she loved this woman rather desperately. And she could tell by her expression that she was in deep shit.

“Lena. Do you want to?” Stef gestured for her to come in, but Lena shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Mike picked Brandon up from school today.”

“It’s his day with him. You know that.”

“What I know is that Mike believes you’re going to work it all out. That this is just a _bad spell_ you’re going through. That you asked him to go to counseling." 

“Lena, I can explain.”   
  
“Last night never should have happened. I knew…I know better. I do. And I am ashamed of myself.”  
  
“We’re separated. We’re getting a divorce.”

“Stef. Do me one favor. Don’t lie to me.”

“Lena, I’m not…”  
  
“Good-bye Stef.”

Stef watched helplessly as the woman she loved turned and walked away.   
  
**************************

It wasn’t over. It could never be over. For the first time in Stef’s entire messed up life, she’d found home. And she couldn’t give it up. She wouldn’t.

Luckily, the next day was her day off. The first person she told was Mike. He was her husband. And he deserved that tiny courtesy. She hated that her own issues had impacted so many, Mike and Brandon at the fore.  But B was young. He already liked Lena. And yes, she was complicating his world. But she was convinced that he’d be okay. Because she loved him and Mike loved him and Lena loved him. He’d be okay.

After Mike she went to her father. She loved her dad so much. She’d even taken his side in her parents’ divorce when she was fifteen. She’d blamed her mom for leaving, and she'd stayed to take care of him. She knew all too well how he felt about being gay. She’d done her best to be a good daughter, but she couldn’t lose Lena -- not for anyone. 

He’d listened. She’d give him that much. He’d listened and then he’d told her that it was a sin. That being gay was a sin. And he asked her where he’d gone wrong.

How could she possibly answer that?

Making the rounds of her friends was a blessed relief. There were a couple she didn’t bother, recognizing a wasted effort, but most, like Cindy who she’d known practically her entire life, had been kind and funny and amazingly supportive. She laughed, even though it was still raw, at all of the jokes that she seemed to be the last one to know what had been clear to one and all, and finally it was done.

And then there was one. She put it off. Mike dropped Brandon off and she fussed over her son. Asked about his day and his time with daddy and listened to his happy chatter as she fed him his favorite dinosaur mac and cheese, gave him a bath and then three bedtime stories. Finally, he was asleep and she heated up some leftover pizza for herself and grabbed a beer. And then it was after eleven in Florida, almost too late to call, but Stef knew her mom rarely slept more than a few hours a night and would still be up.

So after a second beer, Stef sat down on her couch, picked up her phone and called her mother who picked up on the second ring.

“Hey Stefanie, to what do I owe this honor?”  
  
Stef smiled wryly, “Hi Ma, how are things. How’s Steve?” That was his name, wasn’t it?  
  
“He’s snoring away. Here take a listen.” Stef waited as Sharon tromped through her house, opened her bedroom door and held her phone into the room. Stef snorted when she heard the faint huffs of Steve’s snore. God, her mom was really a piece of work sometimes.

Hearing Stef’s laugh, Sharon left Steve to his loud slumber and headed back into her living room and curled into a large, overstuffed flowered chair.

“So, tell me. Are you and Mike finally back together?”  
  
“Not exactly.”  
  
“Stefanie, you’ve got a son. And Mike, I know he’s a bit of an insensitive ass sometimes, but believe me, so are most men. He’s not a bad guy.”  
  
“I know that Ma. This isn’t about Mike. It’s about me. Ma...” Oh God, why was this suddenly so hard. She’d said it a dozen times already. She’d said it to her father and surely nothing could be worse than that, right?

“What is it?”  
  
“Ma, there’s someone else.”

“Someone else?” There was a brief pause and Stef could practically feel the wheels turning in her mom’s brain, then the bark of laughter. 

“Okay, well that’s a bit of a shock, but I always said that a gorgeous girl like you could get anyone she wanted if she put her mind to it. So tell me all about him, where’d you meet, does he have a good job? Hell any job? Please say he’s nothing like all those boys you brought around senior year?” 

“No, no, it’s definitely not like anyone I brought around senior year.” Stef said with a soft smile. 

“Come on Stefanie, I need details. What’s his name at least?”  
  
“Uh, her name is Lena Adams. She’s the vice principal at Brandon’s school and she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

 Stef waited. And then she waited some more.

“Ma. Please say something.”

“How long has this been going on?”  
  
“Not long. I didn't, I wasn't." Stef sighed. "Since the moment we met. She’s gorgeous and kind and ridiculously smart - she's got a Ph.D. And she's funny and shy and this isn’t a phase. It’s not something I’m going to grow out of. Believe me, I tried really hard. Ma, I’m a lesbian.”

Stef waited to hear a dial tone. Sharon didn’t always do well with big emotional issues. She preferred to skate through life with a ribald remark and not worry too much about the details.

“Ma, nothing’s changed. I’m still, I’m still me.”

Sharon took a deep, shaky breath, “Does she make you happy?”

Stef sighed. “Yes Ma, she makes me so happy.”  
  
“Good. That’s good. You deserve to be happy Stefanie. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted for you. To be healthy and happy.”  
  
“I am, I truly am.”   



End file.
